King: How SEC Misses College Football Playoffs

LITTLE ROCK — If Tim Brando is correct about the four teams in the College Football Playoff, perfection or parity or patience will be a factor.

Before Brando was hired away from the SEC Network by Fox Sports in late June, the veteran broadcaster tweeted his prediction that Florida State would play Oklahoma in one national semifinal and that UCLA would meet Michigan State in the other.

Winners of seven straight BCS titles and represented in eight consecutive championship games, the SEC was left out. The last time I was so confounded by a respected national pundit’s prognostication was Beano Cook’s offering a couple of years ago that Arkansas would meet USC in the title game.

Dissecting Brando’s Final Four begins with the guarantee that a one-loss SEC champion will be in the playoff unless each of the other four power conferences has an unbeaten champion.

The work of this first CFP committee will be under intense scrutiny and even if some of the 13 committee members are among those tired of the SEC, they will not favor a one-loss team from the Big Ten, Pac-12, Big 12, or Atlantic Coast Conference over a 12-1 SEC champion.

For the Seminoles, Sooners, Bruins and Spartans to fill out the bracket ahead of a one-loss SEC team, they would have to be 51-0. Cross off that option.

In good conscience, the committee could ignore a two-loss winner in Atlanta, but the chances that both division winners have two Ls at the end of the regular season are slim and none.

Since Arkansas and South Carolina joined the SEC in 1992 and Roy Kramer brainstormed a league championship game, only once have both division winners suffered two league losses. That was in 2007 when 10-2 LSU beat 9-3

Tennessee 21-14 and moved on to the BCS title game where the Tigers defeated Ohio State.

Before that SEC championship game, LSU was No. 7 in the BCS rankings and the victory over the Vols was only the first domino in a perfect storm that resulted in the Tigers’ promotion to No. 2. In early December, No. 1 Missouri lost to Oklahoma and No. 2 West Virginia fell to Pittsburgh. Nos. 3, 4, and 5 did not play and No. 6 Virginia Tech defeated Boston College.

A winner over Va. Tech in week two, LSU suffered its only losses in triple overtime vs. Arkansas and Kentucky and coach Les Miles sold the Tigers as the best 60-minute team in football.

A 10-2 team that beats a 12-0 or 11-1 in Atlanta could squeeze into the playoff, but such a result also provides Brando the opportunity to be correct. If the underdog wins, it will be because South Carolina or Georgia broke through behind a fifth-year quarterback who waited his turn.

South Carolina’s Dylan Thompson played behind Connor Shaw; Georgia’s Hutson Mason backed up Aaron Murray. During SEC Media Days, the seniors received similar praise from their coaches.

Steve Spurrier described Thompson as “very patient” and Mark Richt said Mason “wanted to stick it out and have his moment to shine with the Bulldogs.”

Thompson is 3-0 as a starter and replaced Shaw early in the victory over Central Florida, the only loss suffered by the Knights.

“We really believe he’s a very good player and has a chance to lead us to a big season,” Spurrier said.

Redshirted in 2012, Mason played in five games last year, including two starts after Murray hurt his knee. Tutored by offensive coordinator Mike Bobo throughout his career, Mason led the Bulldogs back from 0-20 against Georgia Tech and threw for 320 yards in a bowl vs. Nebraska.

Brando’s ranking of South Carolina at No. 5 in his season-ending Top 10 is an endorsement of Thompson. He has Alabama No. 7 and LSU No. 10.

My guess is that a 12-1 or 13-0 SEC team will be in Pasadena or New Orleans on Jan. 1.